RobertH Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 last night I asked her how much Lifeinsurance she thought I should get. At work we are doing the yearly insurance setups and since she is going to be joining me in the near future I wanted to have something in place shouls something happen to me. Last night she was ok about it asking me questions about how much it cost and the like and all was good. Well fast forward to today and I get a Email from her. A small quote. "I had thought all last night you said about life insurance but I also have any scared because I dont wish you died before me." I told her it was only for her and our childrens protection should anything happen and I plan on spending many years getting bossed around by her.... She is good now but she was very worried I was going to die because I had insurance. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpedbored Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 last night I asked her how much Lifeinsurance she thought I should get. At work we are doing the yearly insurance setups and since she is going to be joining me in the near future I wanted to have something in place shouls something happen to me. Last night she was ok about it asking me questions about how much it cost and the like and all was good. Well fast forward to today and I get a Email from her. A small quote. "I had thought all last night you said about life insurance but I also have any scared because I dont wish you died before me." I told her it was only for her and our childrens protection should anything happen and I plan on spending many years getting bossed around by her.... She is good now but she was very worried I was going to die because I had insurance. RobertThis can be a difficult subject to discuss with a Chinese mate. Many are superstitious about talking about it lest it come true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaln Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 I tried to have this discussion and explain where our money is I got a finger in my face the big shush no talk several times before I gave up and put it all on paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengdu4me Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 This is a subject I didn't discuss with my wife. I just did what I thought was appropriate. Basically, I took my expected life span, subtracted my current age and then divided by two...then calculated what she would need to live comfortably each year and then added 6% to each year for inflation. The math was this... expected life span 95 years.Current age 55Subtraction = 40 yearsDivide by 2 (just in case I die early(this is the part they don't want to talk about))Total = 20 years Ok...she needs enough money to last twenty years, but she is 10 years younger than me, so make that 30 years. 5,000 RMB per month = 60,000 RMB for the first year60,000 + 6%, then compound each year for thirty years It came out to 5,025,000 RMB(rounding), which is 750,000 USD. So, that's what I bought. I paid for the entire policy up front..all 30 years of premiums, recalculated for the discount for paying all at once (It is a lot cheaper this way, if you have the cash!) I did this before I left America. Most people won't need that much insurance because they have other assets. Here in China..cash works best. When we got married I gave her the packet with the policy, agents name, my attorneys name, my estate attorneys name, and instructions how to file the claim. She looked at it,said...ting bu dong! and put it away...as her English improves, I'll explain it again. This is one of those issues that you "just take care of"...a discussion is not needed and usually isn't appreciated. Also, get an estate attorney and create a living trust for both of you when she arrives. Putting everything in writing once prevents too many uncomfortable conversations later. But the biggest benefit is that all she has to do is call your estate attorney and he will take care of everything that is needed when the time comes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaofeizhu Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 This is a subject I didn't discuss with my wife. I just did what I thought was appropriate. Basically, I took my expected life span, subtracted my current age and then divided by two...then calculated what she would need to live comfortably each year and then added 6% to each year for inflation. The math was this... expected life span 95 years.Current age 55Subtraction = 40 yearsDivide by 2 (just in case I die early(this is the part they don't want to talk about))Total = 20 years Ok...she needs enough money to last twenty years, but she is 10 years younger than me, so make that 30 years. 5,000 RMB per month = 60,000 RMB for the first year60,000 + 6%, then compound each year for thirty years It came out to 5,025,000 RMB(rounding), which is 750,000 USD. So, that's what I bought. I paid for the entire policy up front..all 30 years of premiums, recalculated for the discount for paying all at once (It is a lot cheaper this way, if you have the cash!) I did this before I left America. Most people won't need that much insurance because they have other assets. Here in China..cash works best. When we got married I gave her the packet with the policy, agents name, my attorneys name, my estate attorneys name, and instructions how to file the claim. She looked at it,said...ting bu dong! and put it away...as her English improves, I'll explain it again. This is one of those issues that you "just take care of"...a discussion is not needed and usually isn't appreciated. Also, get an estate attorney and create a living trust for both of you when she arrives. Putting everything in writing once prevents too many uncomfortable conversations later. But the biggest benefit is that all she has to do is call your estate attorney and he will take care of everything that is needed when the time comes. I agree. It is one of those things that can be better if you just "take care of it". I talked about it with my husband and he was like whatever, but he didn't want to really talk about it. Because we are young and have no debt other than our cars, I took out only $25,000. I plan to increase that after we get a house, etc. There is even life insurance now that is like term life (our current plan is whole life) that you get the premiums back at the end of 30 years if you don't die. That will probably be our next policy (since we probably, hopefully, won't die in 30 years). My husband took out a plan too shortly after I took my plan. I didn't force him to, but after I showed him my plan, he decided he wanted to have one for me if something happened to him before me. Life insurance can be a difficult subject. If you can plan it all out for your spouse, it's good, but if she/he is willing to talk about it, they may even want a policy for themself in case they go before you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam and Fen Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 last night I asked her how much Lifeinsurance she thought I should get. At work we are doing the yearly insurance setups and since she is going to be joining me in the near future I wanted to have something in place shouls something happen to me. Last night she was ok about it asking me questions about how much it cost and the like and all was good. Well fast forward to today and I get a Email from her. A small quote. "I had thought all last night you said about life insurance but I also have any scared because I dont wish you died before me." I told her it was only for her and our childrens protection should anything happen and I plan on spending many years getting bossed around by her.... She is good now but she was very worried I was going to die because I had insurance. Robert We have had a lot of arguments about this. The Chinese do not like to talk about death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george lee Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 ditto that...my wife don't like talking about it either and i am chinese myself. i just do it and put the paper in our safe deposit box, end of disscusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny999 Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 I just told her that when we marry I will buy life insurance so she will not suffer hardships. When we first met she freaked out over my skin a bit. I've had a lot of skin cancer removed. No melanoma thank God. At first she thought I was going to die from it. It took a while to convince her I don't have the type that will kill you. Living in south Florida, I've spent a lot of time fishing and diving so the sun has beat me up. Sorry, I digress. But the point is when I told her about buying life insurance she was very happy and said what a good man I was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2mike&jin Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 This is a subject I didn't discuss with my wife. I just did what I thought was appropriate. Basically, I took my expected life span, subtracted my current age and then divided by two...then calculated what she would need to live comfortably each year and then added 6% to each year for inflation. The math was this... expected life span 95 years.Current age 55Subtraction = 40 yearsDivide by 2 (just in case I die early(this is the part they don't want to talk about))Total = 20 years Ok...she needs enough money to last twenty years, but she is 10 years younger than me, so make that 30 years. 5,000 RMB per month = 60,000 RMB for the first year60,000 + 6%, then compound each year for thirty years It came out to 5,025,000 RMB(rounding), which is 750,000 USD. So, that's what I bought. I paid for the entire policy up front..all 30 years of premiums, recalculated for the discount for paying all at once (It is a lot cheaper this way, if you have the cash!) I did this before I left America. Most people won't need that much insurance because they have other assets. Here in China..cash works best. When we got married I gave her the packet with the policy, agents name, my attorneys name, my estate attorneys name, and instructions how to file the claim. She looked at it,said...ting bu dong! and put it away...as her English improves, I'll explain it again. This is one of those issues that you "just take care of"...a discussion is not needed and usually isn't appreciated. Also, get an estate attorney and create a living trust for both of you when she arrives. Putting everything in writing once prevents too many uncomfortable conversations later. But the biggest benefit is that all she has to do is call your estate attorney and he will take care of everything that is needed when the time comes. Chegdu4me; You are a wise and good guy. I hope you did something......since you bought the policy in the USA, did you make "HER" the owner of the policy? (The three choices were Trust, Her, You) If you did not.....she will have problems...when your time comes...because you "own" the policy vice her, and she is NOT a "USC". Please check with your attorney and ensure that he has "Vetted" this with an attorney that is competent in "Estate Planning" in terms of a NON-USC spouse - otherwise "surprises" often are the result. BTW - Attorny's screw this up more often than not, especially when setting up qualified trusts, life insurance, revocable trusts, etc....all needing speacial attention when dealing with shielding Non-USC spouses. One other tiny problem......it's valued in USD$, vice RMB -- and I think just about everyone believes that USD will be in the "dirt" compared to RMB in the "out" years. The good news...you are in China..earning RMB's everyday. Just "two" things to consider....... Hawaii Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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